Hassan al-Turabi

Hassan al-Turabi (1 February 1932-5 March 2016) was the Secretary-General of the National Islamic Front of Sudan from October 1964 to 1999, serving as the eminence grise of the regime.

Biography
Hassan al-Turabi was born on 1 February 1932 in Kassala, Sudan, the son of a Sufi Muslim sheikh. In 1951 he studied law in Khartoum and joined the Muslim Brotherhood while in school, and in the early 1960s he became the leader of the group's Sudanese chapter. His views were progressive and liberal, but human rights violations occurred under Sudan while he was the eminence grise of the regime, being a hidden decision maker and adviser. In 1964, he became Secretary-General of the National Islamic Front, and he also became a leader of the Sudanese Socialist Union. In 1983, he supported Gaafar Nimeiry's imposition of sharia law in the country, and in 1989 the NIF took power under Omar al-Bashir. al-Turabi was his closest adviser, and he was either a hidden ruler of the country or imprisoned to appease foreign powers. al-Turabi was responsible for Sudan giving asylum to Carlos the Jackal, Osama Bin Laden, and other terrorists, and Carlos lived next to him until his 1994 extradition to France. al-Turabi split with Bashir in 1999, and he was kicked out of politics; he supported the Justice and Equality Movement during the civil conflict in Sudan, and he died in 2016 at the age of 84.